Bjorn Krause

Bjorn Krause (13 January 1874-27 September 1939) was a Captain in the Reichswehr of Germany and a Freikorps commander.

Biography
Bjorn Krause was born on 13 January 1874 in Saule, German Empire (now Siauliai, Lithuania) to a family of Germans, and he joined the Imperial German Army after working as a history professor. Krause was a staunch believer in German nationalism and militarism, and he rose to the rank of Lieutenant in the army during World War I, fighting against the Russian Empire on the eastern front. After the war, he joined the far-right, anti-communist Freikorps paramilitary group, and Krause fought against the Bolsheviks in the Baltics. He was the commander at the 1919 Battle of Rushigen against the Red Army, and he coordinated the fight against the Bolsheviks during Lithuania's war for independence. Krause would sympathize with the Nazi Party, but he never joined it, owing to the army's policy of avoiding entering politics. He died in 1939 at the age of 65.